Guy Ritchie was so desperate for pop queen Madonna to lead a normal life he got her to wash his car on Sunday mornings.

Guy Ritchie was so desperate for pop queen Madonna to lead a normal life he got her to wash his car on Sunday mornings.

But the international icon - who loved her showbiz life - complained he was trying to turn her into an English housewife.

Guy cooked huge Sunday roasts and wanted her to join him and their children to watch EastEnders on the sofa together like ordinary families.

At first, the smitten singer went along with it - even, say insiders, going out with him and daughter Lourdes on Sundays with soap and a hose to wash his car at their former home in London.

Desperate for her relationship to work, Madonna DID try to be Guy's perfect wife. But a friend said: "From the start, they were chalk and cheese. Madonna loved her millionaire, highoctane existence while Guy was laid-back and was never one for making extravagant gestures... ever.

"Guy would cook these huge roasts - usually game - and Madonna, who usually eats steamed fish and vegetables, would be there picking her way past the meat and eating a few roast carrots.

"He even managed to get her to join in with the car-washing which he thought was an important thing for the kids to be involved with, because that's what normal people do.

"He, Madonna and Lourdes would be there with soapy buckets all together as a team task - doing something which wouldn't even register on Madonna's radar normally because her staff would attend to it.

"They went for long walks and to the pub on a Friday night. There's only so much Madonna can do being as famous as she is, but she tried."

Guy preferred drinking and playing cards with pals including actor Jason Statham rather than spending time with his wife. But she craved attention and demanded glamorous nights out with her man.

Our source said: "She wanted to get dressed up and be seen. She loved the glitz and the glamour and the photographers waiting for her.

"Guy wanted a wife he could have a whisky on the sofa with."

One incident which left Madonna devastated was when Guy took her out to dinner and couldn't pay the bill as he had forgotten his wallet.

A close friend revealed: "Madonna was furious. She believed that it spoke volumes about the way he thought - or didn't think - about her."